The Old Bakery, Cawsand

We were lucky enough to bag a very sweet, if tiny, fisherman’s cottage for our Cornish adventure. The biggest plus was the stunning view right across the villages of Cawsand and Kingsand and to the Rame peninsula and Plymouth Sound beyond. To get that view though you have to go up high – up a punishingly long and steep flight of stone steps in fact. We could have grown to dislike those steps quite intensely, if it wasn’t for The Old Bakery nestling at the bottom.

The whole village is picturesque in a uniquely Cornish way, and The Old Bakery is no exception with a building dating from 1760 it was once a coaching house and inn, and later, a haberdashery, chemist and bank. The original architectural features in the café are now Grade II listed and lovingly cared for by the current owners Chris and Liz Gunn.

Although a committed tea drinker myself, A. tells me that the coffee here is superb and they serve it with La Perruche sugar here, which he says is very important indeed. Luckily we were only here for a short break as I would have really struggled with those steps after too many of The Old Bakery’s brunches. We sampled the Full English (OK, technically a breakfast but if you eat it at 11 surely that qualifies, right?) which was jam packed with great quality local produce and tasted the better for it. The Old Bakery produce their own sourdough bread, which is just stunning and forms that basis of a delectable French Toast with crispy bacon rashers.

The Old Bakery also offers bread making classes so that you can produce your own sourdough, and has an artisan pizza takeaway service. We didn’t try either of these – but we would have done if we’d had a smidge more time!